Atomic Blonde Red Band Trailer: Charlize Theron is a Killer Spy

John Wick co-director David Leitch returns this summer with a new R-Rated action/thriller, in the form of Atomic Blonde. Based on the 2012 graphic novel The Coldest City written by Antony Johnston and illustrated by Sam Hart, Atomic Blonde stars Oscar-winner Charlize Theron as Lorraine Broughton: MI6’s “most lethal assassin” (according to the film’s official synopsis) and the only person who can save the day, when she is sent on a mission to Cold War-era Berlin – a time and place “simmering with revolution and double-crossing hives of traitors” – to deliver a priceless dossier.

James McAvoy (Split) costars in Atomic Blonde as David Percival, MI6’s Berlin station chief and (seemingly) the only person that Lorraine can trust in a city overflowing with people who may or may not be what they seem. With Atomic Blonde debuting this weekend as part of the SXSW 2017 film festival, Universal Pictures is taking the next big step in itsAtomic Blonde marketing push – by releasing a full-blown red band trailer for the movie.

Atomic Blonde boasts a strong supporting cast that, in addition to McAvoy, includes John Goodman (Kong: Skull Island), Toby Jones (Sherlock), Sofia Boutella (Star Trek Beyond) and Eddie Marsan (Ray Donovan) in key roles. Naturally, the red band trailer follows in the footsteps of the marketing material and Atomic Blonde images that have been released before it, keeping the focus first and foremost on shiny footage of Theron in action as the eponymous (and deadly) spy.

The Atomic Blonde close-quarter fight sequences and action scenes glimpsed in the red band trailer boast the same crisp visuals and bone-crushing feel that audiences will naturally expect, coming from one-half of the John Wick directing team. For related reasons, Leitch reads as being an appropriate match for the comic book inspired world-building and B-movie/Noir elements of Atomic Blonde, as scripted here by 300 and 300: Rise of an Empire co-screenwriter, Kurt Johnstad.

Universal’s marketing for Atomic Blonde is promoting Theron’s Lorraine Broughton as being a combination femme fatale and killing machine on the level with John Wick, though the red band trailer does allude briefly to the character having emotional baggage that should help to make her a more fully-rounded protagonist. Theron is an Oscar-winner for good reason and has already demonstrated her ability to bring depth to a hardened warrior (one of few words, at that), playing Furiosa in Mad Max: Fury Road. Seeing as the first wave of reviews for Atomic Blonde from its SXSW premiere showing ought to be arriving soon, it may not be long before we find out how Miss Broughton measures up, by comparison.